• Question: do any animals live on or in volcanoes?

    Asked by u11yatesm to Jon, Debbie, Glyn, Kat, Nicola on 18 Mar 2013. This question was also asked by quit.
    • Photo: Jonathan Stone

      Jonathan Stone answered on 18 Mar 2013:

      They definitely do! Volcanoes are actually pretty good at isolating groups of animals so that they evolve separately from other things, and become uniquely adapted to living on them. The Galapagos islands are a good example of this. Also…the BBC did a cool program on animals living near volcanoes quite recently called “Lost Land of the Volcano” http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mwcqx . I was once on a volcano in Guatemala and saw a MASSIVE cat footprint that was from a Jaguar…pretty near to my tent…!

    • Photo: Debbie Crockard

      Debbie Crockard answered on 18 Mar 2013:

      From a sea view – Under water volcanoes are home to many very specialist animals and some scientist think that they might even be where life on earth began.

      life around volcanoes or hydrothermal vents are some of the only ones on earth that are not based on photosynthesis from the sun. The Bacteria live on the sulphur from the vents and are called chemosynthesisor’s they form the basis of whole communities of animals.

    • Photo: Kathryn McMahon

      Kathryn McMahon answered on 19 Mar 2013:

      I know pretty much nothing about volcanos, but I saw lots of these birds when I went Kilauea volcano in Hawaii – they were loads flying round the crater.

      A White-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus dorotheae; "Koa‘e kea" in Hawaiian) soars along the steep-walled canyon feeding into the bay adjacent to Kilauea Point, north Kaua'i. Adult birds have mostly white plumage with long, white tail streamers (33-40 cm). Tail feathers are visible while the bird is in flight as compared to the koa‘e ‘ula. Black eye-stripe from gape curving toward and passing through eye. Diagonal black stripe across upper wings. Yellowish to orange bill. Legs/feet are yellowish with black webs. Length: 38-40 cm (15-16 in), 71-81 cm (28-32 in) including tail streamers; wingspan: 89-94 cm (35-38 in); average life span: 16 years. Typically solitary feeders though sometimes seen in pairs. With folded wings, koa‘e kea hit the water and completely submerge to seize and swallow prey before flight. Prey consists of fish and squid.

    • Photo: Glyn Barrett

      Glyn Barrett answered on 19 Mar 2013:

      hi there!
      There are loads of animals that live on volcanoes! that is up until they erupt thou 🙂
      Volcanic soil is really really fertile as there are loads of minerals which are brought up from the belly of the earth with the eruptions. This allows lots of plants to grow there (in time that is) followed with herbivores and then the carnivores. Volcano slopes are entire ecosystems in themselves.
      A cool fact about this is that many animals can sense eruptions long before they happen by detecting tremors in the ground and can escape in good time.

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